Eddie Mair Takes This Boris Johnson Supporting MP To Task

13 June 2019, 20:02

This interview between Eddie Mair and a Boris Johnson supporting MP got heated over what counts as a mandate.

During a conversation with Alok Sharma MP, Eddie Mair wanted to know if Boris Johnson would suspend Parliament.

Mr Sharma was offered to LBC as a guest by the Boris Johnson campaign.

After playing Mr Sharma a clip of Tory leadership hopeful Rory Stewart who said Boris needed to be "straight" when it came to proroguing Parliament.

What is the answer, Eddie wanted to know.

Mr Sharma said: "Well, the answer is I think we're starting to go down a bit of a rabbit hole here.

"What Boris has been very clear on is that he is focused, and will be focused if he is elected and becomes the leader and the Prime Minister of the country, on securing a better deal with the European Union."

"That's not an answer to the question," Eddie told the MP.

Mr Sharma said he would not expect Boris Johnson to use such "archaic procedures."

When Eddie said that Mr Johnson was not being clear, Mr Sharma replied that the Tory leadership frontrunner had been "talking to colleagues, and securing their support."

Eddie put it to the MP that Boris had been privately assuring Brexiteers that he would leave open the option to prorogue Parliament.

"He held a news conference, he allowed six questions, and didn't properly respond to most of them," Eddie Mair said.

When Eddie asked questions about how Mr Johnson would fund some of the pledges in his manifesto, and drug taking Mr Sharma did not seem to answer to Eddie's satisfaction.

Watch Eddie reading Boris Johnson's own words on un-elected Prime Minister's.

Watch the whole exchange at the top of the page.